Weekly Update: Motor Home Livin'

Music: Fidlar
I had an awesome weekend - from seeing Kaytranada on Friday to TURF Festival Saturday to Riot Fest on Sunday. One of the highlights, in true festival fashion, was when I stumbled into an acoustic set in a side tent at Riot Fest by surf-punk rockers Fidlar. I had the foresight (or rather, dumb luck) to stand on a bench by a side wall so I could see over everyone's heads in the packed tent. What was truly lucky was that I was able to watch the crowd surfing and general pit-moshing from pleasantly afar. Watch this video!

Accomplishment:
No Skillshares to be seen last week. I was having some trouble finding time while viewing so many apartments. I hope to have more attention to spend on personal work once I move. I have the time, but there's a lot distracting me at the moment, which makes me kind of useless!

I did go to (not one, but) two Brainstation workshops, one on product management and one on intermediate web development. In the former, I learned the difference between a product manager and a project manager (it's a lot more than two letters). In the latter, I coded a tip calculator with HTML and Javascript. Which only makes me want to use Skillshare to learn more code! I also noted that the project called for the tip to be calculated on top of tax (which is not correct), so I gave myself a little challenge to correct the final amount to add tax after tip has been calculated.

I also started to sketch a little custom type for a shadow box that will be filled with bottlecaps.

Work in progress, and very much so. I know it's going to be a lot of work to refine it digitally. But hey, gotta start somewhere!

Goal:
I am going to Startup Weekend this weekend, and attending a talk by Facebook product designers tomorrow night. Thursday is reserved for looking at possible apartments, so no goals for me this week. Aren't I nice to myself!

Random Thought:
You've probably seen those weird Lay's potato chip flavours that have cropped up in the last few years, as concocted by contest winners. What are the 'flavours of Canada'? Montreal Smoked Meat? Poutine? P.E.I. Scalloped Potatoes? Who can say. I really do love the fact that fans can create their own flavours, but I wonder if they have a hand in what the flavour will actually taste like, apart from the idea of the flavour. What should a Montreal Smoked Meat flavoured chip taste like?

I was grabbing a slice at Pizza Pizza the other day, which I rarely do for a couple of reasons. First of all, the slices have usually been sitting there a while. Heating them up in the oven doesn't really inject any freshness back into them. And the other reason is that I tend to like toppings on my pizza that might be generally considered 'weird'. Broccoli is hands-down the best pizza topping in my mind. It's crunchy but also crispy on top where the florets have been cooked slightly more than the rest, and it's a good foil to the greasiness of the pizza. So here's my idea: what if Pizza Pizza were to run a contest in which they would choose a fan-created topping combination and sell that as a slice for a month or so. That fan would get to be a spokesperson for the company, and it would bring more customers into the store to try a new combination each month. And as we've seen, customers can get very creative with flavours and toppings of customizable foods. It doesn't always work out, but when it does, we get something as delicious as Poutine flavoured chips.

Inspiration: Dave Meehan's Motor Home Blog
Dave Meehan is a wonderfully interesting man from the U.K. who has lived in a motor home for the past two years plus. He writes a witty blog and takes some breathtaking pictures. In my mind's eye I would love to lead a similar life, doing remote freelance design to make ends meet. He even has a section on using technology while travelling unplugged! Check out some images from his site below.